Key Euribor rate steady as Nowotny gives upbeat growth outlook

FRANKFURT, Jan 14 The key euro-priced
bank-to-bank lending rate held steady on Tuesday after a
European Central Bank policymaker gave an upbeat outlook for the
euro zone, minimising the need for further policy action.
Ewald Nowotny said on Tuesday the currency bloc might grow
stronger this year than so far expected, citing potentially
strong performances by euro zone member states Germany and
Austria for example.
The Austrian central bank governor also said that it was a
positive sign that banks were repaying early the long-term loans
they took from the ECB in late 2011 and early 2012 to ride out a
period of strained funding conditions.
The repayments will resume this week after pausing over the
turn of the year to avoid a liquidity squeeze. On Friday, the
ECB said banks would return 2.566 billion euros ($3.50
billion)on Wednesday, which was less than expected in a Reuters
poll.
This means that the recent drop in excess liquidity
, or money banks have beyond what they need for
their day-by-day operations, will slow down. It stood at 155
billion euros on Tuesday compared with 159 billion previously.
The amount had risen to over 280 billion euros towards the
end of last year as banks increased their liquidity buffers to
avert year-end money market tension.
As the new year got on its way, excess liquidity came back
down, which increased upward pressure on money market rates.
But the ECB renewed pledge to fight further falls in
inflation or an unwarranted rise in money market rates soothed
concerns that tighter monetary conditions could hamper the euro
zone's weak recovery.
On Tuesday, the three-month Euribor rate,
traditionally the main gauge of unsecured bank-to-bank lending,
was unchanged at 0.282 percent.
The six-month Euribor rate rose to 0.390
percent from 0.389 percent and the shorter-term one-week rate
dipped to 0.174 percent from 0.175 percent.
Overnight Eonia inched lower to 0.153 percent on
Monday from 0.154 percent in the previous session.
Euribor rates are fixed daily by the Banking Federation of
the European Union (FBE) shortly after 1000 GMT.
* For a table of the latest Euribor fixings for terms of one
week to one year, double click on
* For a table of the previous day's fixings of EONIA swap
rates, which show market expectations for future overnight
lending rates, double click on
* For graphs of historic Euribor and EONIA swap rates, right
click on the links in angle brackets below, and select 'Related
Graph'
1 week
2 week
1 month
2 month
3 month
6 month
9 month
1 year
($1 = 0.7353 euros)
($1 = 0.7314 euros)
($1 = 0.7324 euros)
(Reporting by Eva Taylor)

(The following statement was released by the rating agency)
MOSCOW, December 09 (Fitch) Fitch Ratings has affirmed Russian
Chuvash
Republic's (Chuvashia) Long-Term Foreign and Local Currency
Issuer Default
Ratings (IDRs) at 'BB+' and National Long-Term Rating at
'AA(rus)' with Negative
Outlooks, and Short-Term Foreign Currency IDR at 'B'.
The republic's outstanding senior unsecured domestic bond
ratings have been
affirmed at 'BB+' and 'AA(rus)'.
The affirmation reflects Fitch's unchanged bas

(The following statement was released by the rating agency)
MOSCOW, December 09 (Fitch) Fitch Ratings has affirmed Russian
Altai Region's
Long-Term Foreign and Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings
(IDRs) at 'BB+',
National Long-Term Rating at 'AA(rus)' and its Short-Term
Foreign Currency IDR
at 'B'. The Outlooks on the Long-Term IDRs and National Rating
are Stable.
KEY RATING DRIVERS
The 'BB+' ratings reflect the region's stable budgetary
performance,
satisfactory liquidity and low indebte

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: